PUTRAJAYA: Tightened standard operating procedure (SOP) for schools will be put in place as they reopen for face-to-face classes next month.

       Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said the stricter SOP was meant to better protect students from Covid-19 and to prevent them from falling behind in their studies or worse, dropping out of school.

       However, he added that the decision to send their children to schools would still be in the hands of the parents.

       “What is important is to bring the students back to school because they have been away for a long time, and we cannot continue to let them be like this,” he said when announcing the new SOP yesterday.

       He said parents could opt not to send their children to school, but they must give a letter to the school explaining their reasons, while schools had been told not to take disciplinary action or issue warning letters to these students.

       He also said the decision to reopen schools was made based on the differing educational needs and capabilities of students who come from various socioeconomic backgrounds.

       “It was not easy to find the middle ground but we are confident that with the feedback obtained during our sessions (with stakeholders), that this is the best framework that can be used, even if it is not perfect,” he added.

       Radzi said only 50% of the school’s enrolment would be present at the school at any one time and this would be done by dividing the students in all classes into two groups, with half attending school at a given time while the other half undergo home-based teaching and learning (PdPR).

       They will also attend school on a weekly rotation, he said, adding that this model would continue as the ministry continued to monitor the Covid-19 situation in the country, and might change based on the situation.

       Certain students, however, would not be rotated, including students in Form Six Semester 2, full boarding school students, special needs students, international exam year students, preschool/ private kindergarten, and schools with low enrolment, he said.

       He said students would have to eat in class during recess unless it was air-conditioned, in which case, they would move to a well-ventilated area.

       The reduced number of students would also make it easier for teachers to monitor SOP compliance, Radzi added.

       He said all classes and rooms must be well ventilated, curtains should be removed and fans would be used to boost ventilation.

       He also said face masks were mandatory within school grounds, while double masking was encouraged, and the ministry was working towards providing face masks for B40 students and pupils.

       Should there be a Covid-19 case in school, the school will inform the district health office which would then do a risk assessment to determine the next course of action, said Radzi.

       All other SOP released in the past for schools would continue to be implemented, he added.

       In order to ease parents’ burden, students were allowed to attend school in other attire besides their uniform, as long as it was neat and appropriate, until the end of the year, he said.

       Radzi said the way PdPR was conducted would change as teachers prepare their students for their PdPR the week before, while in school, for self-learning.

       They will provide the guidelines and learning materials for the lesson after going over the main concepts of a lesson while they are having their face-to-face lesson.

       Full boarding schools will become a safe bubble and students would have to take a saliva test three times before beginning school: when enrolling, on the sixth day, and on the 14th day.

       “The easy way out for me as the minister would have been to close schools until next year.

       “However, we are in the midst of moving towards recovery and a return to our daily lives in the new normal, with the Health Ministry also looking to categorise Covid-19 as being endemic,” he added.

       Thus, he said schools would reopen according to the National Recovery Plan (NRP), which stipulates that schools will only reopen for states in Phase Two, Three and Four, while students in Phase One states will continue with PdPR (see infographic). He added that schools located in travel bubbles would follow the school operations guide for Phase Four.

       When a state moves to the next phase, Radzi said the educational institutions would operate according to the new phase two weeks after the announcement.

       “Essentially, all students in Phase Four states will be back in school from Oct 31 using a weekly rotation model,” he added.

       Malaysian students began their second round of PdPR in June when the Education Ministry closed schools in response to the rising Covid-19 cases.